Mayor Freddie O'Connell, Vice Mayor Angie Henderson, and Metro Council Members,
On behalf of the individuals and local businesses listed below, we urge you to vote NO on RS2024-792, which would approve fully implementing FUSUS technology within the Metropolitan Nashville Police Department (MNPD).
FUSUS technology integrates footage from public and private cameras across Nashville, routing it to a hub for unimpeded viewing and sharing. It threatens our privacy and collective peace of mind, turning our neighborhoods into surveillance zones where our every move is scrutinized and recorded.
MNPD requested the integration of FUSUS, but Metro Council has not addressed MNPD’s track record of abuse, and the modest community effort to address MNPD has been eviscerated. A cursory review of MNPD’s history includes findings revealed in Driving While Black; officer-involved killings that eventually led to the voter-demanded Community Oversight Board or COB); the notorious 37208 incarceration rate (which contributed to the demand for oversight); substantive allegations of collusion between senior police authorities and state lawmakers (to strip the COB of its authority); and more recent allegations of rampant sexual misconduct, echoing the words of many with Silent No Longer Tennessee. Yet, despite these unethical behavior patterns, with LPR technology already piloted and approved for permanent use, the council would would be putting panopticon level surveillance in the hands of the practically unaccountable and armed MNPD. What recourse remains if these resources are misused or weaponized?
Already, the MNPD has shown how its faults influence their implementation of surveillance technology. Last fall, the Community Review Board (CRB) released a finding from the study of another invasive surveillance program in MNPD’s arsenal: license plate reader (LPR) technology. CRB’s report showed disproportionate LPR “hits” in North Nashville, East Nashville, and Madison. Even with this supposed more limited technology, MNPD has demonstrated a propensity for discrimination. Because of the nature of policing, FUSUS technology will be used in the same biased and unwarranted patterns against low-income and otherwise marginalized communities, including individuals seeking pregnancy care, gender-affirming care and the tracking of unhoused and alleged undocumented persons.
Moreover, the efficacy of increased community surveillance is, at best, inconclusive. Research from the National Institute of Justice shows that police body-worn cameras have not reduced police violence. Unchecked surveillance could quickly lead to increased wrongful arrest and over policing. Allowing this resolution to pass, even with independent community oversight and limits on FUSUS’s use and integration will only allow for further abuses of power by MNPD at the expense of our neighbors and families.
Nashville should be a place where we can enjoy our shared spaces. With FUSUS in place that ideal will be in jeopardy. We reject the expansion of unrestricted surveillance in our city. Therefore, we urge all Metro Council members to vote NO to RS2024-792.